A Tift County proposal to merge the Tifton city and county fire departments, seven months after the county broke away from the joint department, "would not be in the best interest of the city residents," City Manager Pete Pyrzenski told City Council on Thursday night.

 Since the county terminated the joint fire agreement effective last July 1 and created its own fire department, the city's "ISO" insurance rating has improved from a 4 to a 3, which means "significant savings to city residents in their insurance premiums," Pyrzenski said.

 He said recombining the departments would likely result in a higher ISO rating resulting in higher insurance premiums for the city.

 Also, "based on what the county is proposing, the City of Tifton Fire Department would be eliminated and operational control of fire suppression and protection would be turned over to the county," Pyrzenski said.

 He noted the city fire department has been operating well with professional personnel and all necessary equipment for more than a century, while the county department is less than a year old.

"We do not believe joining the departments has any benefit to the city residents," the city manager said, noting that there are areas where the city and county can work together. Suggestions include an automatic aid agreement, sharing the Westside Fire Station, leasing to the county the Southside Fire Station, a use agreement to allow county firefighters to use city fire training facilities and conducting joint training exercises.

City Council was meeting in a workshop and took no action on the city manager's report.